Modern and impressionist art auction at Christie’s

Modern and impressionist art auction at Christie’s

November 9th 2006 sale at Christie’s New York of Impressionist and Modern Art realized $491,472,000, setting a new record for any art auction. The previous record for an Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale was $289 million set in May of 1990. The prospect of acquiring masterpieces the likes of which had not been seen on the market forever generated boundless enthusiasm and bidding throughout the sale. Nine new world auction records were set including for Klimt, Schiele, Kirchner, Gauguin and Balthus. Buyers in tonight’s sale, by lot (not value) were 39.5% American, 42.5% European, 4% Asian, 1.5% Russian, 3% Latin American and 9.5% other.

Here are the top-10 selling lots:

	LOT	PRICE ($)	( £ / € )	ESTIMATE ($)	BUYER
	54	87.936.000	46.282.105 / 68.700.000	40.000.000-60.000.000	Anonymous
	Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, 1912 - WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST
	9	40.336.000	21.229.474 / 31.512.500	35.000.000-45.000.000	Anonymous
	Paul Gauguin. L’hômme à la hâche. 1891 – WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST
	51	40.336.000	21.229.474 / 31.512.500	20.000.000-30.000.000	Anonymous
	Gustav Klimt. Birch Forest. 1903
	37	38.096.000	20.050.526 / 29.762.500	18.000.000-24.000.000	Neue Galerie
	Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Berliner Strassenszene (recto); Bäume (verso). 1913-1914 -WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST
	53	33.056.000	17.397.895 / 25.825.000	15.000.000-25.000.000	Anonymous
	Gustav Klimt. Apple Tree I. 1912
	52	31.376.000	16.513.684 / 24.512.500	18.000.000-25.000.000	Anonymous
	Gustav Klimt. Houses at Unterach on the Attersee. 1916
	60	22.416.000	11.797.895 / 17.512.500	20.000.000-30.000.000	Anonymous
	Egon Schiele. Einzelne Häuser (Häuser mit Bergen) (recto) ; Monk I (fragment ; verso). 1915 – WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR THE ARTIST
	31	15.920.000	8.378.947 / 12.437.500	6.000.000-9.000.000	Anonymous
	Amedeo Modigliani. Vénus (Nu debout. nu médicis). 1917
	7	13.456.000	7.082.105 / 10.512.500	5.000.000-7.000.000	Anonymous
	Pablo Picasso. Plant de tomates. 1944
	64	12.896.000	6.787.368 / 10.075.000	15.000.000-20.000.000	Anonymous
	Pablo Picasso. Femmes à la fontaine. 1901

Source: Christie’s Great Estates

New post on at Tuesday, 3 October, 2006, 5:39 am and is archived in Art, Culture, Fashion, International News, Luxury, People. Subscribe to answers with RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or make a trackback from your web.